The Smithfield Schoolhouse Museum was built in 1932 as an addition to the Christian Home School, circa 1924, a historic Rosenwald School. The Christian Home School was originally on two acres of land in the Chuckatuck area in the eastern part of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. In the 1920’s, Julius Rosenwald, a former Sears, Roebuck and Company president, contributed $4.3 million to build more than 5,000 schools across the South for black students. Black communities raised $4.7 million in matching funds to build the schools.

My grandmother attended a school in a schoolhouse like this and was interviewed by the museum regarding her experience.